An interdisciplinary research project investigating the socio-political factors that determine Cuban women's resilience to natural disasters and their contribution to the country’s plan for climate action: Tarea Vida (Spanish: “Life Task”).

Cuba’s high geographical susceptibility to re-occurring extreme weather events and its vulnerability to the impacts of climate change has been further exacerbated by the country’s debilitated economy, weak infrastructure and restrictions on food rations. Paradoxically, these factors and the legacy of the Cuban Revolution have pushed women, often considered to be the least empowered group, to the forefront of climate action in Cuba.

Although gendered experiences of climate change have been widely addressed in other Small Island Developing Nations (SIDNs), little is known about the Cuban context due to government restrictions on research, lack of internet access and digital documentation. Our project “Mujeres Tarea Vida” examined the socio-political factors that determine Cuban women’s resilience, and their contribution to the country’s plan for climate action: Tarea Vida (“Life Task”).

An in-depth literature review, ethnographic fieldwork, and 40 interviews with female government officials and civil society representatives were conducted at three research sites in Cuba.

The results of our research showed women spearheading environmental initiatives and disaster recovery efforts after extreme weather events, in spite of the socioeconomic barriers they as Cubans and as women face. The ideological power of their identity as revolutionaries is the main driver behind their leadership, self-sufficiency and innovation mind-set.These findings bear critical implications for the study of climate change resilience in Small Island Developing Nations. Learning from successful gender-sensitive examples of climate governance developed in different socio-political contexts is paramount to addressing the Life Task of climate change faced by Cuba and the global community as a whole.

“Despite women being disproportionately affected by climate change, they play a crucial role in climate change adaptation and mitigation. However, they are still a largely untapped resource. Restricted land rights, lack of access to financial resources, training and technology, and limited access to political decision-making spheres often prevent them from playing a full role in tackling climate change and other environmental challenges” (IUCN, 2018).

While many studies illustrate that gender equality and women’s empowerment are prerequisites for effective conservation, climate action and meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (Lohani et al, 2017, UN SDG, 2018, UN Women, 2014), there is very little research on how and why a state usually perceived to render women vulnerable, such as climate change, can also adversely be empowering (Arora-Jonsson, 2011). 

1. Cuba’s high geographical susceptibility to reoccurring extreme weather events and its vulnerability to the impacts of climate change

Currently the United Nations lists 58 Small Island Developing States (SIDS). SIDS "although they are afflicted by economic difficulties and confronted by development imperatives similar to those of other developing countries" (UN SDG, 2018)  have their own "peculiar vulnerabilities" (UN SDG 2018) to climate change and the hence resulting exposure to global environmental challenges and more frequent and intense natural disasters due to "their small size, remoteness, narrow resource and export base" (UN, 2018, Nath et al, 2010). Most of the current discourse, particularly in media, on the effects of climate change on SIDS focuses on affected nations in the Pacific.

2. Cuba’s unique socio-political context that set its apart from any other Small Island Developing States (SIDS)

Historical and political factors have endowed Cuba with an outstanding approach to natural hazards and disaster risk reduction (DRR). The practice of environmental governance within the Cuban development model embedded in its socialist project, setting it apart from other SIDS. Despite the country’s weak economy, low GDP and poor infrastructure, the number of deaths in Cuba following natural disasters such as hurricanes is very low, unlike any other Caribbean SIDS, demonstrating that successful approaches to natural hazards are not necessarily based on the income level of countries, nor to the degree of investment in disaster risk management (Guzman, 2014). Tarea Vida (“Life Task”) is Cuba’s ambitious plan to address climate change. Approved on the 25th of April 2017 by the Council of Ministers it includes five strategic actions and 11 tasks to reduce the island nation’s vulnerability to climate change. Cuba’s remarkable results in disaster management and climate change policy could be better explained by the socio-political context in which its disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategy and Climate Change action plan Tarea Videa is immersed.